In a bid to address a serious housing crisis across Spain, prime minister Pedro Sánchez told a conference in Madrid that he has been forced to take the ‘unprecedented’ measure to support Spanish citizens struggling to afford to buy property, while a dearth of social housing is exacerbating the problem.

The Spanish government plans to bring in legislation to impose 100% property transaction tax, the equivalent to stamp duty land tax (SDLT), on purchases of properties by non-EU citizens, although this would have to be passed through parliament before coming into force.